Getting Unstuck from the Rut in Your Life

Sometimes we get stuck in a rut. The same thing over and over and over again.

Perhaps you put up with an unrewarding friendship that long ago grew stale. Maybe you have grown so accustomed to a confining life situation that you just take it for granted that that’s just the way it is. For many it’s a dreary job that pays the bills, but robs the soul.

Quite often, one of the signs that you’re life has fallen into a rut is a dreariness of heart, a listlessness of spirit.

When you realize you are in a rut, what can you do? How can you get unstuck? Let me share with you a dream that taught me the way forward from a rut in which I once was stuck.

Once I managed a small non-profit for several years. Towards the end of my stay, I grew increasingly restless to leave.Yet I overstayed almost a year, because of the loyalty I felt to the organization and its values.

The longer my inner conflict persisted, the more exhausted I became emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Then one night I had this dream:

I am in a prison cell. As I sit there, a prison guard walks by, and I hurry to the bars and cry out to the guard, “Please, please let me out!”

The guard comes over to me and says, “Don’t talk to me about unlocking the door. The door’s unlocked!”

The morning after this dream, I turned in my resignation.

My dream had reminded me of several existential truths. I alone am responsible for my life situation. If I don’t like it, then I should choose differently and act upon my choice.

If your living is in a rut, honor that you and you alone are responsible for your situation no matter how tempting it might be to blame others. See yourself in a mirror, and realize that the person you see is the very key to your lock. You are free; you always have choice; and you have the capacity to act.